Arrival
by Kate Davis
Summary: Voyager has made it home, but Janeway doesn't know what to say to her crew. There's also a little J/C thrown in for good measure. Please review and tell me if you think this is how the series might end.


Title: ARRIVAL  
Author: Kate Davis  
Category: A Voyager is back story with a little J/C romance thrown in for good measure.  
Rating: G   
Spoilers: None  
Archive: Please email me for permission before archiving.  
Summary: Voyager has made it home, but Janeway isn't ready to leave the ship and has trouble finding the words to address her crew.  
Disclaimer: All characters are the property of Paramount. This piece of fan fiction was created purely for entertainment purposes and no one made any money from it. No infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended.  
  
~  
  
Something was holding her back. She'd being waiting and hoping for this day for years, but she couldn't leave - not just yet. Because she knew she'd never be back. She was too old, and the pressures of space exploration were not what she desired anymore.   
  
She left her ready room holding only a small bag and her computer. She let her eyes draw over each conn on the bridge, and for a moment saw each member of the crew as if they were at their post again. She smiled. A soft, long smile than began in her heart and stretched up until it formed on her lips, then in her eyes. She had done it - like she had promised she would. And Kathryn Janeway was never one to break her promises.  
  
She exited the bridge and glanced down the now empty corridor that once danced with life, and for a moment heard the laughs and cries of every crew member.   
  
For them, life on earth would not return to what it had been before. It couldn't. Not only had they all aged physically, but they had changed on the inside too. It was most evident in those like Tom Paris, least in those like herself, but it still showed through.   
  
She knew what was waiting for them when she left Voyager. The top admiral had informed her of their preparations over the last two days. Everything had been sorted out with the Maquis members, pending a final assessment by the board, but she knew in her heart they'd all be pardoned.   
  
She could hear the crowds before she could see them. She rounded the final corner, and they exploded in applause that would have been heard back in the depths of the Delta Quadrant. Her smile broadened when she saw them, the excitement overwhelming her and boosting her mood. Tears sprang to her eyes as the crew of Voyager formed a passage for her to walk through. She stepped down from Voyager, and began her walk. Everyone clapped louder as she passed them, but the thing that pleased and saddened her most of all was the families of the crew members standing behind each of them. There would be no one waiting for her at the end of her walk. But she hid this deep down and smiled and patted each of the crew on the shoulder, nodding to the weeping wives and husbands and grown-up children never held by their Voyager parent.   
  
Towards the end she reached her senior staff, and an aged Admiral Paris beside his son, holding his grandchild, little Ryan Paris-Torres and crying tears of relief and joy, while B'Elanna and Tom each stepped forward and hugged her. Admiral Paris leaned forward and whispered a thankful message in her ear, that made her first salute him, then draw him into a hug. She stroked Ryan's cheek before moving on to Harry who drew her into a hug before giving Seven a little push forward and a prompting to do the same. Then she reached Tuvok, who began to speak, before realising that words were neither necessary or appropriate, and shook his Captain's hand before a cold sort of Vulcan embrace. Kathryn looked over at his family, who were so dear to him and felt a swelling pride that momentarily shadowed her pain.  
  
She was at the end of the passage, and no family member was there to great her. Not that there was anyone who should have come. Chakotay was the final crew member in the line and he gave her one of his looks. "Welcome home Kathryn, he whispered in a voice barely audible over the cheers. She looked up at him, wondering for the millionth time how he knew exactly what she thinking and needed to hear. He took her arm and led her to over the Admirals of the Starfleet Board who were waiting for her.  
  
He smiled at her affectionately as he stepped back to allow the admiral to address her, but she firmly grabbed his arm and pulled him back into line with her. She held her hand up to the Admiral, signalling she needed a moment, before turning to the crew.  
  
The clapping died away slowly - everyone was waiting for her to say something. Suddenly everything she'd planned to say flew out of her head. What could she possibly say to sum up years of wondrous adventure, unforgettable camaraderie, pain, aguish and isolation that would accurately portray her feelings for this crew? For the first time in her life, Captain Kathryn Janeway couldn't find the words.  
  
She looked questioningly beside her, and Chakotay took her hand. The warmth seemed to spread up along her arm, into her chest and through her body. "We did it", he whispered, and suddenly she knew what she had to say.  
  
"You stand there and graciously applaud me, as though it were my sole efforts that brought us home. It may have been my responsibility, but each and every one of you took it on as your own, and we could never have made it back with the efforts of each individual. Even in our darkest days we clung to the threads of hope that we would stand here again. But we do not stand here as individuals now. We stand as one. One crew. One collective. One family. That was the secret in the end. That was the power, the phenomenon that brought us home. The reason we did it was solely because we did it together. As one."   
  
The crew erupted into cheers again, as the admiral stepped forward to make his address.  
  
Chakotay gently squeezed her hand before reaching around with his other arm and hugging her to him. There was a hopeful look in his eyes that made her realise that someone had been waiting for her to come home. She smiled back an answer. Just like the rest of the crew, he had to wait no more.  
  
~  
COPYRIGHT September 2000 KATE DAVIS  
~  
Please take a moment to give me some feedback on this fic in the review section below, and tell me if you think this is how the series will end and what you thought of Janeway's speech.   
I guarantee to review at least one of your works in return.  



End file.
